Buchenwald, Block 66

The man who saved 900 Jewish boys inside a death camp.

For decades, Jews around the world have sought out examples of non-Jews like Raoul Wallenberg, whose centennial birthday was observed last week, and Oskar Schindler, who defied the Nazis to prevent the murder of Jews. In Israel, the Righteous Among the Nations is Yad Vashem’s highest honor, and over 23,000 people have been awarded this status since the program began in 1953.

The criteria established by Yad Vashem is straightforward: Jews can nominate individuals who provided substantial assistance to save Jews, provided that said assistance was not given with the expectation of financial gain. Honorees receive a medal, a certificate of honor and have their name engraved on the Wall of Honor in Yad Vashem’s Garden of the Righteous. If the recipient is no longer alive, the awards are given to next-of-kin.

Last month, 67 years after the end of the Holocaust and over 20 years since his death, Yad Vashem granted this honor to Antonin Kalina, a Czech communist who saved over 900 boys in Buchenwald.

There is little known about Kalina. He was born in 1902 in the Czech town of Trebic and in adulthood became a communist functionary. After the Nazis took over Czechoslovakia, he was imprisoned in 1939 in the Buchenwald concentration camp until 1945. After the war he seems to have lived an unexceptional life; he died in 1990. During his time in Buchenwald, however, Kalina distinguished himself as a true hero and rescuer of children.

In late 1944 through early 1945, as the Red Army pushed the Germans out of eastern Europe, the Nazis began liquidating their death camps, placing Jewish prisoners on brutal “death marches” toward the German hinterland. Countless thousands of Jews died on these brutal marches westward – some from the cold, others starved to death along the way, others were shot when they failed to keep up. Those who survived were put into concentration camps scattered throughout Germany, Buchenwald included.

Buchenwald, a camp established in 1937 to imprison criminals and political opponents of the Nazi regime, swelled to over 100,000 inmates in the final months of the war.

Included in this influx of Jewish prisoners were a large number of boys, many between the ages of 12 and 16. These boys had come from all over Europe and had already undergone unimaginable horrors: ghettoization, transports, brutalizations, privations, starvation and often the loss of their families. By the time they arrived in Buchenwald, they were already hardened veterans of the camps, having learned how to survive under the most inhuman conditions. Upon their arrival at Buchenwald, thanks to Kalina and his deputies, their situation improved dramatically.

Kalina had risen to a position of influence in the underground, which ran the day-to-day operations of the camp on behalf of the Nazi SS. Kalina and his fellow prisoners decided to place the youths in a special barrack, far away from the main part of Buchenwald, deep in the filthy quarantine area where the SS was loathe to go. This barrack, number 66 in the “little camp,” became known as the “kinderblock,” or children’s block. Antonin Kalina was the block elder. In this capacity, he went to extraordinary lengths to ensure the survival of the boys he placed there.

Unlike the other prisoners in Buchenwald, the boys of block 66 did not have to leave their barrack for roll call – instead of assembling with the rest of the camp twice a day no matter the conditions outside, the boys were counted inside. Also, unlike the other prisoners, the boys of 66 did not go to work. Remaining inside the bunk was a tremendous advantage for the boys and a factor that certainly helped keep many of them alive. Conditions within the block were also better than in other parts of the camp – the boys had access to blankets, and at times extra food rations.

Kalina did what he could to mitigate this reality for the boys of Kinderblock 66, often at great personal risk.

Significantly, the block elders didn’t beat the boys, something almost unheard of within the Nazi camp system. Let there be no misunderstanding: despite the relative advantages, this was still a concentration camp full of fear, disease, hunger and death. But Kalina did what he could to mitigate this reality for the boys of Kinderblock 66, often at great personal risk.

As the Allied forces closed in during the war’s frantic final days in early April 1945, the Nazis decided to eradicate Buchenwald’s Jews. The camp’s commanders ordered all Jews to report for assembly; they were to be forced out on more death marches.

Kalina refused to comply with this order. He commanded the boys not to report to the assembly and changed the religion on their badges – the Jewish boys were now listed as Christians – so that when the SS came around looking for Jews, Kalina told them that block 66 had no more.

Thanks to Kalina’s efforts, when the Allies liberated Buchenwald on April 11, 1945, over 900 Jewish boys survived. When they were freed, the boys lifted up Antonin Kalina and carried him on their shoulders.

After the war, Kalina returned to his home in Czechoslovakia and lived out the remainder of his life in obscurity. His boys began new lives in Israel, the United States, Australia and Europe; but they always remembered the Czech communist who risked his life in order to save theirs. For years, however, Kalina’s heroism went unrecognized, partially because Kalina, a humble man, never sought out publicity for his actions. Likewise, for years many of the boys whom he saved didn’t talk about their experiences during the Holocaust.

Several years ago, some of the surviving boys, now around 80 years old, along with a historian from Michigan State University, Kenneth Waltzer, initiated a process to have Kalina recognized as Righteous Among the Nations. The impetus for seeking recognition for Kalina was the filming of the documentary “Kinderblock 66: Return to Buchenwald,” which tells the story of four boys who go back for the 65th anniversary of their liberation from the camp. The film also tells the story of Kalina and highlights his role in the rescue of the children in the camp. Two of the film’s subjects, Naftali Furst of Haifa and Alex Moskovic of Florida, played leading roles in the nomination process.

Last month, Kinderblock 66 played to a full house at the Jerusalem Film Festival. Following the screening, Irena Steinfeldt, the Director of Yad Vashem’s Righteous Among the Nations Department stood before the rapt audience and announced that Yad Vashem had granted Kalina the recognition he so richly deserved. For the survivors and their descendants, it was a bittersweet moment – a long overdue oversight had been corrected, but there are no surviving members of Kalina’s family to accept his honor.

Today, as we remember heroes like Raoul Wallenberg and Antonin Kalina, we must consider other unsung heroes of the Holocaust for whom there may be no one left to tell their story.

The opinions expressed in the comment section are the personal views of the commenters. Comments are moderated, so please keep it civil.

Visitor Comments: 13

(11)
Anonymous,
November 7, 2016 7:39 PM

he was a saint, I was in block 66 and liberated there

He was a saint , I was block 66

(10)
teddy coffey,
March 18, 2013 4:49 PM

great story.My great uncle was one of the judges on the nurmberg trail.nane Earle McGuffey I have a story about my uncle and the trail I have aletter that J.Egar Hover sent him after the trail.my he had told my mother about what the tewish people went through.my heat goes out to the jewish God people.

(9)
h,
March 11, 2013 6:02 PM

A ray of hope

Wonderful man! I visited an exhibition in the jewish museum of Frankfurt am Main where recently an exhibition was shown on people in Hesse (germany) who helped Jews. It mentioned Block 66 and the name of a German, Wilhelm Hammann. With a little bit of research one finds that Wilhelm Hamman, Franz Leitner and Fjodor Michailitschnko were equally involved in the rescue of the children in Buchenwald and have been recognized by Yad Vashem.

(8)
Usher Buchwalter,
February 10, 2013 3:04 AM

block 66 was epitomy of love to your fellow man/child

I was in block 66 and no one can understand the heroism displayed by non-Jews to save us . It was heroism to the highest degree. Mr. Kalina was the finest of the finest

Henry Kinast,
March 13, 2013 11:53 AM

I am Henry Kinast and I was in Block 66 arriving on Jan 45. The article is incorrect as I remember roll call outside not inside the Barack and painfully starving. The article said we got extra food?

Judy Glicksohn- Pasternak,
March 19, 2013 7:35 PM

my father also arrived on January 20th 1945 from Czestochowa, Poland .I am writing a book about my late father and his experiences during the war. I am looking for information about Gustav. maybe you can tell me about him?

(7)
Michael Schreiber,
October 30, 2012 1:41 AM

Medal of survivors of Buchenwald

I,have in my possession,what I believe surmises what hell is all about. Buchenwald concentration camp survivors. They received,after the end of the war,received a brass enamel pin with Buchen-Wald on it and entrance to Hell.Is this what lost Jews where given for the hell and torture they survived?

(6)
Lisa Kirk,
October 17, 2012 2:28 AM

hooray! To rescue children is what is truely the bravest.

(5)
Lisa,
August 26, 2012 2:56 AM

How awesome!!

I wish these heroic men & women were alive to speak to our children! We live in such a " me " world.... It would be nice to see a real hero who put their life on the line to save some random Jewish kids!! Such courage & bravery!!

(4)
Chaiah Schwab,
August 20, 2012 7:39 PM

Is'nt it amazing that there were people who still had courage?

Is'nt it amazing that there were people with the courage to try to do what's right even after being subjugated to the horrors of the camps. I want to know -- shouldn't we try to learn?-- how these heros were raised, what made them dare to try to do the right thing even at the risk of their lives? Was it a loving home? Did their parents or teachers somehow impress them? Where did they get the courage? How can we teach OUR children (& ourselves)?

(3)
Anonymous,
August 20, 2012 4:28 AM

HaShem will thank Kalina and it does not matter if overlooked.

See one line Summary for comment.

(2)
Stefanie Perry,
August 19, 2012 7:08 PM

My family's involvement

My grandfather was in the 9th armored division of the army and assisted in the liberation of that camp. His division was the first to cross the river to assist. He passed away when I was one and a half and I don't really know him except through the stories I hear. My family is Jewish and has members that were either lost in the holocaust or are just MIA. I can only imagine how hard it was for him as a Jewish American soldier to look at the faces of people in the camps and wonder if he was related to any of them. He wrote to my grandmother every day he was away and now some of the original letters he wrote are in the National Holocaust Museum here in DC and others are locked away in the National Archives to help preserve that generation of people. I am proud to be a Jew and to have this type of history in my family.

(1)
Lana,
August 19, 2012 6:27 PM

An Inspiration

I am so heartened to learn about people like Kalina. It gives me hope and inspiration in such turbulent times.

I always loved the story of Jonah and the whale. Why do we read it during the afternoon service of Yom Kippur?

The Aish Rabbi Replies:

Let's recap the story: God tells Jonah to go to Ninveh and to prophesy that in 40 days, God will destroy the city. Instead, Jonah goes to Jaffa, boards a ship, and sails for Tarshish. A great storm arises. Frightened, Jonah goes to sleep in the ship's hold. The sailors somehow recognize that Jonah is responsible for the storm. They throw him overboard, and the sea becomes calm.

A great fish swallows Jonah. Then three days later, God commands the fish to spit Jonah back out upon dry land. God tells Jonah, "Let's try it again. Go to Ninveh and tell them in 40 days I will destroy the city."

The story is a metaphor for our struggle for clarity. Jonah is the soul. The soul is assigned to sanctify the world, and draw it close to God. But we are seduced by the world's beauty. (Jaffa in Hebrew means "beauty.") The ship is the body, the sea is the world, and the storm is life's pains and troubles. God hopes confrontation with mortality will inspire us to examine our lives. But Jonah's is the more common response - we go to sleep (have a beer, turn on the television). The sailors throw Jonah overboard - this is death. The fish that swallows Jonah is the grave. Jonah is spat back upon the land - reincarnation. And the Almighty tells us to try again. "Go sanctify the world and bring it close to God."

Each of us is born with an opportunity and a challenge. We each have unique gifts to offer the world and unique challenges to perfect ourselves. If we leave the task unfinished the first time, we get a second chance. Jonah teaches us that repentance can reverse a harsh decree. If the residents of Ninveh had the ability to correct their mistakes and do teshuva, how much more so do we have the ability to correct our former mistakes and do teshuva.

(source: "The Bible for the Clueless But Curious," by Rabbi Nachum Braverman)

In 1948, Egypt launched a large-scale offensive against the Negev region of Israel. This was part of the War of Independence, an attack by five Arab armies designed to "drive the Jews into the sea." Though the Jews were under-armed, untrained, and few in number, through ingenuity and perseverance they staved off the attacks and secured the borders. Yet the price was high -- Israel lost 6,373 of its people, a full one percent of the Jewish population of Israel at the time.

And what does teshuvah consist of? [Repentance to the degree] that the One Who knows all that is hidden will testify that he will never again repeat this sin(Maimonides, Laws of Teshuvah 2:2).

"How can this be?" ask the commentaries. "Inasmuch as man always has free choice to do good or evil, to sin or not to sin, how can God testify that a person will never repeat a particular sin? Is this not a repudiation of one's free will?"

The answer to this came to me at a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous, at which the speaker, a man who had been sober for twenty-one years, said, "The man I was drank. The man I was will drink again. But now I am a different man."

A sin does not occur in a vacuum. A person who is devout does not abruptly decide to eat treifah. A sin occurs when a person is in such a state that a particular act is not anathema to him.

Consequently, repentance is not complete if one merely regrets having done wrong. One must ask, "How did this sin ever come about? In what kind of a state was I that permitted me to commit this sin?"

True repentance thus consists of changing one's character to the point where, as the person is now, one can no longer even consider doing the forbidden act. Of course, the person's character may deteriorate - and if it does, he may sin again.

God does not testify that the person will never repeat the sin, but rather that his degree of repentance and correction of his character defects are such that, as long as he maintains his new status, he will not commit that sin.

Today I shall...

try to understand how I came to do those things that I regret having done, and bring myself to a state where such acts will be alien to me.

With stories and insights,
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